Yamazaki Mazak helped showcase the future of metalworking in conjunction with Burnley College at its recent ‘Meet the Manufacturers’ open day event.
Held as part of the Burnley College Engineering Expo event on 21-22 March, representatives from Mazak were on site at the college to meet current and prospective students, industry professionals and engineering enthusiasts about the latest innovations in advanced manufacturing.
The event featured live-cutting demonstrations from several Mazak machine tools purchased by the college in recent years following its formation into the Lancashire and Cumbria Institute of Technology. These included two CV5-500 simultaneous 5-axis machining centres, one of which was equipped with robotic automation; as well as two VCN 410 Matrix Nexus vertical machining centres and a QUICK TURN 250 Matrix Nexus high-performance CNC turning centre.
A key highlight for visitors was a live demonstration of MAZATROL DX, which extends the functionality of Mazak’s widely popular PC-based SmoothCAM Ai software to provide rapid and automatic quotations, automated part programming, virtual machine simulation, and machine process analysis and optimisation.
Burnley College offers a range of Level 4 and Level 5 qualifications, along with a series of upskilling and re-skilling programmes, including HNC and HND courses, as well as short-term skills ‘top-up’ courses such as two-week intensive 5-axis training courses and a 30-hour CNC manufacturing and tool manufacturing course.
The latter are both products of an Advisory Board recently set-up by the college, which provides a forum for local employers to feed into the curriculum and ensure the courses it offers are closely aligned to the needs of industry.
Mazak also works closely with the college to provide technical best practice advice and has welcomed students for tours of its own European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester.
Karl Hargreaves, Area Sales Manager – North West at Yamazaki Mazak, comments: “Burnley College is one of the most innovative educational establishments in the North West. Their approach, not only to investing in the very latest in advanced manufacturing technologies, but constantly evolving and refining the relationship between industry, education and the next generation of engineering talent, is something to be admired.
“The ‘Meet the Manufacturers’ event is the latest example of this innovation in action, and it was an initiative we were delighted to support.”
Mazak was one of several manufacturers and suppliers who supported the event, alongside Additive-X, Measurement Solutions, Guhring, Trident Foams and LC Automation.
For more information on Yamazaki Mazak, please visit: www.mazak.com/uk-en.
